Now up for review is Foodilic, a buffet restaurant on North
St. in downtown Brighton. This is a two-floor establishment, and we sat in the
very tight ground floor seating area, near the buffet, which is in the front
window area. Everything was pretty good, with mostly vegetarian fare, although
I wouldn’t say it was fantastic. Can’t beat the price, though, and the drinks
menu was quite impressive, with lots of fresh juices and sparkling drinks on
offer, plus coffees, teas, and the usual nonalcoholic stuff.
Bowel moving on… Foodilic has what appears to be a
thrown-together single toilet in the corner of the room, so it’s a no-frills,
self-contained, unisex sort of deal. It does have a door, though, so that was a
relief.
After some second guessing of my points system last time, I
have updated the values, so let’s see where that takes us.
Is it easy to find? (1/4)
I wasn’t really sure this place
even had a restroom, as there was no indication on the ground floor. Major
points deduction for having to ask an employee—she directed me up the
ludicrously narrow staircase to the upper level seating area. Once up there,
the toilet sign was in plain view. I didn't take a picture because of a lack of space--see below.
Does everything work (lights,
toilets, sinks, hand dryer, etc.)? (10/10)
Everything that was in there did
function, although I was disappointed to find no hand dryer available—more on
that later.
Are the facilities in good
repair (beyond everything functioning)? (7/8)
Everything in there seemed
basically fine—some minor issues with chipped tiles and messy workmanship.
Are there enough supplies
(toilet paper, paper towels, soap)? (2/10)
I was pretty irked to find that in
addition to there being no hand dryer, there were also no paper towels, so I
had to dry my hands on my jeans. To make the experience even worse, the toilet
paper was damp—probably from people taking some of it with wet hands after
washing. Toiletiquette, people!
Is it clean and dry? (7/10)
It was dry in there, but a bit
dusty and grimy. The restaurant seems like it’s probably busy all the time, so
I imagine the staff don’t have time to get in there to clean and replenish very
often.
Does it smell okay? (8/8)
No smell! Huzzah!
Are there family and accessible
facilities? (0/10)
I think anyone in a wheelchair or with
a buggy would struggle to even get in the restaurant, let alone up the
one-person-width staircase and into the little cubicle. This is definitely not a
restroom for anyone with anything beyond the barest of standard personal need.
Are there enough toilets for
the user population? (4/8)
As it happened, I didn’t have to
wait in line for the toilet, but someone had to wait for me. In a busy,
centrally located, affordable restaurant with a capacity of something like
50-60, I imagine there is a fair amount of waiting. People seated upstairs have
the advantage of being able to keep an eye on the situation from their seats,
however.
Is there somewhere to put jacket,
bags, etc.? (0/8)
To my chagrin, there is no place
to put any stuff. As this is a restaurant, most people could probably leave
stuff at their table, but any woman needing to bring her bag into the toilet
would struggle to find a clean and dry place to put it.
Are there trash cans? Are they
full? (7/8)
There is one trash can with a
cover in the room, and since I had nothing to throw away, I couldn’t tell if it
was full. Probably not, considering the lack of towels. The size of the can
seemed adequate for the room, but one of those sanitary trash cans for women
would probably improve things.
How’s the décor? (3/6)
I was pretty surprised at the décor
of this place, considering what an afterthought it seemed to be. The tiles are decent,
and the wooden mirror is pretty cool. No other touches, however, and the rest
of the room does look a bit shabby.
Is there a mirror? (4/4)
The mirror provided is quite large
considering the space. No missing it.
Is the stall spacious? (1/3)
You can definitely get in here and
do what you need to do without much fuss, but if you have anything with you,
you’re out of luck. It was hard to even get photos of the place, really.
Are there vending machines? (0/1)
Someone pointed out to me that
even if vending machines look dumb and are expensive, they can be helpful,
especially if you’re a woman who needs a tampon or pad. So I’ve allotted a
point for this category. But there are no vending machines in this one.
Are the water and dryer
temperatures okay? (1/1)
Although the sink doesn’t include
a hot water tap, the restaurant has added a water heater, which is a pretty
stand-up thing to do. So you can make sure the water temp is to your liking. Party.
Is there a separate area for
makeup, waiting, or other activities? (0/1)
Sadly, there’s barely enough room
to toilet and wash, let alone do anything else. This is less applicable in a
one-room bathroom without stalls, but I’m including the area outside the door
in this assessment. There’s not even really any room to wait in line without
getting in the way of staff members.
How’s the soap? (no bonus)
This is one of those places that for
some reason provides both a wall dispenser and a bottle of liquid soap. But
neither was anything special, aw.
Are there freebies? (no bonus)
As if!
Is there advertising? (no
deduction)
No advertising.
Is there an attendant? (no deduction)
Saved from the horrors of human interaction!
Okay, so this wasn’t the greatest bathroom in the world. If
I were giving it an offhand star rating, I’d say it would get something like just
over two out five. Let’s see if my tweaking of last week’s point values was
successful. The total is just as much a surprise to me as it is to you, BTW,
since I rate as I write.
Total: 55/100
Okay, so that’s a bit more accurate than my last rating, I
think. Almost three stars. Because this was slightly less than adequate in
terms of facilities, but had a couple of nicer touches, I guess that puts it
slightly above the 2.5 stars mark.
So in summary, if you need to use the toilet at Foodilic, it’s
pretty much fine, but nothing to write home on damp toilet paper about.
Coming up next: Komedia’s unisex lobby toilet, w00t.
Pooedbye for now!
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